Canada’s highest court is set to hear the case involving a former London high school teacher who was acquitted of voyeurism charges in 2015.
The Supreme Court of Canada is set to review the case of a former English teacher at H.B. Beal Secondary School, Ryan Jarvis, on Friday.
Police originally charged Jarvis with voyeurism for recordings he made in 2010 and 2011 involving 27 female students between the ages of 14 and 18.
The 41-year-old was acquitted after a judge decided that while the videos he recorded with a pen camera were an invasion of privacy, the judge was not convinced they were made for a sexual purpose.
The Ontario Court of Appeal, in a split decision, disagreed with the judge on both key points, but nevertheless upheld the acquittal.
The Appeal Court said while Jarvis was surely sexually motivated, the students had no reasonable expectation of privacy at school where the recording occurred.
The girls were secretly recorded by Jarvis, who filmed students in the school’s hallways, cafeteria, classrooms and at track practice. All the students were fully clothed and the videos lasted from a few seconds to a few minutes.
In its appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, the prosecution maintains the Appeal Court’s view of privacy was far too narrow.
— With files from the Canadian Press
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